The Civil War.Brentford and Turnham Green
Created | Updated May 14, 2007
King Charles Attempts to capture London 1642
The Pillaging of Brentford.
On 11th November 1642 King Charles I, keen to regain the initiative after the inconclusive Battle at Edgehill on 23rd October, having seen peace talks at Reading fail, moved his army forward to Colnbrook,(about four miles to the North East of Windsor).There he gave Prince Rupert orders to capture Brentford as a precursor to taking London itself. Prince Rupert had failed to take Windsor on Nov 4th, and had gone on to pillage in the Egham and Staines area before receiving these orders from the King.(Essex, the Parliamentary Commander at Edghill, was by this time back in London organising the defence of the capital.) This action, the taking of Brentford, because it meant possibly attacking the civilian population, laid the King open to charges of acting in bad faith. The later actions of Prince Rupert's Cavelry did indeed upset the Civilian population.
The following morning, 12th November, Prince Rupert's Cavalry rode into Brentford, under cover of the mist from the River Thames. Opposing Rupert's troops were two regiments of Parliamentary Cavalry under the command of Denzell Holles and Lord Brooke. Many ran away as Ruperts Cavalry approached, but Holles's men fought well before being forced to retreat,and as happened at Edgehill, Hampden's troopers provided a covering screen in the rear as Parliamentary forces withdrew from the town.
Once more Rupert's Cavalry acted swiftly and forcefully, and pushed their opponents back, punishing them as they tried to escape; a large number of Holles's men drowned trying to escape across the Thames. However, as at Edgehill, instead of solidifying their position, Rupert's men started to ransack the town, stripping it of everything they could carry off and vandalising the rest, their actions witnessed by many civilians. Stories of what had happened brought home to Londoners the fact that even civilians would be caught up in the fighting in this conflict.
Turnham Green
Exaggerated as reports were about Edghill, they provided an incentive for Londoners to defend the city. Thousands, many of them women, volunteered to help with the defences, raising massive earthworks. The events at Brentford then galvanised people into action. They were no longer helpless victims to be robbed or ravished. They were now a determined,"citizens army", ready to dig and/or fight.
When Rupert's Army eventually moved on towards London, they were met at the village of Turnham Green, about two and a half miles to the east of Brentford, by what was possibly the most unusual army ever to take the field during the war. Essex's Army and the London Trained Bands formed its core, and they were joined by thousands of civillians ready to defend the road to London. They were 24000 strong, a motley crew, united in their aim to stop the King from entering London, "a large mass of humanity standing impassivley as the Royalist Army lined up to the west."
Essex and Skippon,who eventually sat on the Council of State, rode through this citizens army exhorting them to pray and then fight heartily, it was a Sunday. The Royalist Army, about 12000 in number, short of supplies and food, had to watch the Parliamentary Forces being fed at lunchtime, which would have been,"unsettling", for the hungry soldiers, and, local conditions, narrow fields between hedgerows, meant that Rupert's Cavalry could not be deployed. If fighting had started, it is certain that there would have been high casualties in the street fighting which would have followed. The King realised that he could not order the killing of so many,"ordinary", citizens and retain popular support. Turnham Green was becoming a, "stand-off", in which neither side wanted to make the first move.
It was all over by the evening. The King ordered his men to withdraw West, and the vast citizens army started to make its way back into London. Although there had been no fighting this was a decisive moment in the war. London remained in the hands of Parliament, the King had lost his best, and as it proved last, chance of taking the capital and its port, he had to retire westward, first towards Hounslow and then towards Reading,taking his Army into winter quarters.
As the King fell back towards Oxford, Essex stengthened his position by taking Windsor, which was to remain headquarters of the Parliamentary Forces for the rest of the War, Maidenhead and , and Henley on Thames. The great Battle of Turnham Green never occured, and the King would never recover his capital city.
The Pillaging of Brentford.
On 11th November 1642 King Charles I, keen to regain the initiative after the inconclusive Battle at Edgehill on 23rd October, having seen peace talks at Reading fail, moved his army forward to Colnbrook,(about four miles to the North East of Windsor).There he gave Prince Rupert orders to capture Brentford as a precursor to taking London itself. Prince Rupert had failed to take Windsor on Nov 4th, and had gone on to pillage in the Egham and Staines area before receiving these orders from the King.(Essex, the Parliamentary Commander at Edghill, was by this time back in London organising the defence of the capital.) This action, the taking of Brentford, because it meant possibly attacking the civilian population, laid the King open to charges of acting in bad faith. The later actions of Prince Rupert's Cavelry did indeed upset the Civilian population.
The following morning, 12th November, Prince Rupert's Cavalry rode into Brentford, under cover of the mist from the River Thames. Opposing Rupert's troops were two regiments of Parliamentary Cavalry under the command of Denzell Holles and Lord Brooke. Many ran away as Ruperts Cavalry approached, but Holles's men fought well before being forced to retreat,and as happened at Edgehill, Hampden's troopers provided a covering screen in the rear as Parliamentary forces withdrew from the town.
Once more Rupert's Cavalry acted swiftly and forcefully, and pushed their opponents back, punishing them as they tried to escape; a large number of Holles's men drowned trying to escape across the Thames. However, as at Edgehill, instead of solidifying their position, Rupert's men started to ransack the town, stripping it of everything they could carry off and vandalising the rest, their actions witnessed by many civilians. Stories of what had happened brought home to Londoners the fact that even civilians would be caught up in the fighting in this conflict.
Turnham Green
Exaggerated as reports were about Edghill, they provided an incentive for Londoners to defend the city. Thousands, many of them women, volunteered to help with the defences, raising massive earthworks. The events at Brentford then galvanised people into action. They were no longer helpless victims to be robbed or ravished. They were now a determined,"citizens army", ready to dig and/or fight.
When Rupert's Army eventually moved on towards London, they were met at the village of Turnham Green, about two and a half miles to the east of Brentford, by what was possibly the most unusual army ever to take the field during the war. Essex's Army and the London Trained Bands formed its core, and they were joined by thousands of civillians ready to defend the road to London. They were 24000 strong, a motley crew, united in their aim to stop the King from entering London, "a large mass of humanity standing impassivley as the Royalist Army lined up to the west."
Essex and Skippon,who eventually sat on the Council of State, rode through this citizens army exhorting them to pray and then fight heartily, it was a Sunday. The Royalist Army, about 12000 in number, short of supplies and food, had to watch the Parliamentary Forces being fed at lunchtime, which would have been,"unsettling", for the hungry soldiers, and, local conditions, narrow fields between hedgerows, meant that Rupert's Cavalry could not be deployed. If fighting had started, it is certain that there would have been high casualties in the street fighting which would have followed. The King realised that he could not order the killing of so many,"ordinary", citizens and retain popular support. Turnham Green was becoming a, "stand-off", in which neither side wanted to make the first move.
It was all over by the evening. The King ordered his men to withdraw West, and the vast citizens army started to make its way back into London. Although there had been no fighting this was a decisive moment in the war. London remained in the hands of Parliament, the King had lost his best, and as it proved last, chance of taking the capital and its port, he had to retire westward, first towards Hounslow and then towards Reading,taking his Army into winter quarters.
As the King fell back towards Oxford, Essex stengthened his position by taking Windsor, which was to remain headquarters of the Parliamentary Forces for the rest of the War, Maidenhead and , and Henley on Thames. The great Battle of Turnham Green never occured, and the King would never recover his capital city.
